


no, there's really no words for it

by charlesworthy



Category: Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Again, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Based on a song, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 02:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10688232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charlesworthy/pseuds/charlesworthy
Summary: like pieces of a broken vase, everything falls into place-Soren busies his hands with something he's sure has little purpose.





	no, there's really no words for it

**Author's Note:**

> for my good friend Ray, because these nerds make us feel warm and fuzzy
> 
> based on [Mountaintop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49g6NlfbedU) by Relient K

It wasn't something Soren ever envisioned doing.

The vase was broken, simply put. It was filthy, when they found it, and old, and useless, even when it was all pieced together probably. Still, he found himself sitting at his desk, meticulously piecing together everything. It was like a jigsaw puzzle, perhaps, if you had to wait approximately three minutes holding the piece in place.

Soren's desk faced the window, and he had the curtains drawn tight since he started working. The desk lamp was the only illumination given, and it worked well enough in helping him piece together the vase so he couldn't complain. Because of this, he wasn't sure what time it was, or how long he'd been working. He just knew that some time ago, Ike went to bed, and was snoring quietly behind him.

He could check his phone, but he was never one to distract himself like that.

\- - -

Soren had never met his parents, his biological ones, at least, before that weekend. He was nervous the whole time, but only Ike actually knew that. The whole thing was rather shady, and Soren knew from the moment they left Ike's driveway to make the six-hour drive it would take them to get to some backwater town in the middle of the woods, that if Ike weren't there, Soren wouldn't have gone.

If not for Ike, he'd just ignore the first email in which his mother introduced herself, questions aplenty, address included.

It wasn't a life-changing visit. Soren was an adult, and she could not convince him to stay with her any longer than this weekend. They did normal parent-child things over that weekend, like go out to eat or just... Play catch up.

Ike was present the whole time. Again, Soren could pinpoint exact moments where if Ike wasn't there, he would have just gotten up and left without a word. In particular, the moment where Almedha asked if she'd be a grandmother soon or not stuck out.

While Soren supposed the whole trip was memorable in its own right, the best moment was when Ike decided instead of just leaving he wanted to look around town a bit. At the time, Soren wasn't interested, but he followed merely because Ike said it might cheer him up. As usual, he was right.

The tiny town was so far removed from any civilization that Soren wasn't wholly convinced it was real. It could have been from a scifi novel, where the town is fake and he and Ike would be stuck there somehow, or otherwise leave and never be able to return. Half of it seemed completely abandoned. There were broken down houses and buildings, remnants of a town that was once booming but now forgotten.

Ike was interested in those forgotten pieces.

He was always one to explore. Even when the buildings weren't decrepit, he enjoyed wandering off and finding something new. He'd gotten in trouble more than a few times for urban exploration, and he usually left new places with some one new who'd remember him in some way.

Ike was like that. He was memorable, radiant, smiling. He was like the sunrise.

He'd waved Soren over to a rotting building hidden behind thick brush. The only evidence a human had been here in years was the fading grafiti written on its white side. Soren thought these kind of explorations were pointless, but he humored Ike. Some one had to smile and hold his hand when all Ike found was dust after all.

\- - -

Soren paused, leaning back in his seat. The vase was coming together now. There were but a few pieces left. He'd impressed himself by getting this far without injuring himself. The vase was turning out to be tacky, as he'd originally assumed, but something about it was oddly beautiful. Even though the patina was scarred with the traces of where the pieces fit together...

He shook his head, sighing, smiling. Why did they even take this stupid thing?

\- - -

The creaky floorboards of the old church squeaked. It was a one-room affair, older than Soren expected to find. Some of the pews were still standing, though he assumed any weight would cause them to give way. There was a hole in the corner where rot had taken the floor, proving the place to have a basement.

Ike didn't seem to care much about these states of decay. Then again, he'd probably seen it before. He was looking closely at the pews – some of them still holding bibles. The abandoned air filled Soren with a sense that he was an intruder, but there was Ike – forever comfortable in his skin, no matter the situation.

“Weird right?” he said. He had this reckless kind of grin on his face. It was the kind of smile that never failed to make Soren's heart skip a beat. “It's like they just forgot to have service and never came back.”

“I suppose,” Soren responded. He hadn't considered pulling a story out of this place until Ike mentioned it, but now that he had Soren pictured rows of families, listening to a preacher feed them what they thought they needed to hear.

He wasn't very religious.

Ike moved through the church without saying much more, until he beckoned Soren over to the window at the back, which Soren assumed would illuminate the pastor in a halo of light. Symbolic.

That was where they found the vase, on the window sill there.

“Look how weird. Do you think this was here before or after?”

“It's broken,” Soren said. “That's weird.”

Ike just chuckled. “Let's take it.”

\- - -

Neither of them had much want for a vase. Soren wasn't sure how or why either of them decided to take it. Ike had taken off his hoodie to carry it in, and when they got back home they put it in a bucket and filled it with water. It had been _filthy_ , but after that the pieces seemed kind of cute.

Ike had wondered verbally how it would look finished, so maybe that's why Soren was doing this.

He considered it, one finger tracing the lines of his handiwork. Just two pieces left and he'd--

Oh. He only had one piece for two holes. He sighed. It would be like that, wouldn't it?

\- - -

The car ride back from that town had been mostly in silence. Ike had put on the radio just to be background noise, and they could hear the vase clatter around in a cardboard box they were storing it in in the back seat.

“At least she wasn't that bad,” Ike said.

Soren just raised his eyebrows. Ike didn't take his eyes from the road, so he said what he meant out loud: “You don't think so?”

Ike shrugged. He only had one hand on the wheel. He always looked so casual. “She didn't throw holy water at you because she caught us holding hands,” he offered. “She didn't try to make you stay that hard. I mean, I had to peel her away from that hug, but...”

He tossed a smile at Soren, one of the kind that Soren used to bashfully hide from. “Do you feel a little better?”

Soren was quiet for a moment. Rain started coming down on the car. Lazily, Ike flipped on the windshield wipers and turned off the radio. He liked the sound of rain better. They both did.

“Yeah,” Soren answered at last. “A little.”

\- - -

Soren jumped a little in the seat. He didn't know how long he'd been awake for, but he did know it was a little too long. Once he realized the arms belonged to Ike, he relaxed, leaning back in the chair and looking up to see Ike's gentle smile, eyes still touched by sleep.

“Ike...” Soren's voice came out cracked. He should have slept. “Good morning.”

“You've been up,” Ike mumbled. He bent, pressing his cheek to the side of Soren's head, and let out a hum that reverberated in Soren's skull and chest. “You finish it?”

“There's a missing piece.”

Ike gave a huff, amused. “I think it's pretty.”

“You would, wouldn't you?” There's a teasing quality to Soren's tone. He finally sets down the glue he'd been using and folds his hands in his lap, closing his eyes briefly. Soren never usually felt tired, until Ike's warmth was right beside him.

Ike placed a kiss to Soren's temple. “It's perfect,” he said. His voice was low, deep, smooth and soft. Something twisted in Soren's chest that he couldn't quite describe.

Not quite euphoria, but better.

 


End file.
